Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi - A Review

Indian fantasy-writing has puzzled me. Most fantasy writers seem intent on providing a scientific or pseudo-scientific rationale for the mythology as though they are still defending themselves against accusations of primitive superstition.

It is not like J.K.Rowling explains that the Avada Kedavara curse kills because the wand is voice-activated to emit a nano-particle beam at the victim to coagulate the blood in his heart. Not does Tolkien claim that his Balrog is actually an android with a flame-thrower in his throat and a neuronic whip in his hand. The art of writing fantasy lies in inducing a 'willing suspension of disbelief' in the reader. Most Indian fantasy writing, however, fails in this merely because a reader, who is willing to suspend disbelief in the matter of accepting magic, is unable to believe in the 'scientific' rationale for the myth.

The blurb for 'The Krishna Key' makes it appear as though it is an urban fantasy i.e the introduction of mythical elements into the everyday world of today. The tale, however, seems to be written with the intent of following the treasure hunt style of tale so successfully adopted by Dan Brown. The problem, however, is that it failed to impress me as either type of story.

The Krishna Key reminded me of nothing but the "Chariots of the Gods" by Von Danniken. The latter is a book of speculative theories about the origins of myths. The Krishna Key is much the same - except that Ashwin Sanghi dresses it up in a gauze-thin veneer of a thriller tale. In the utter disregard for character verisimilitude - as witness a school drop-out lecturing a gape-mouthed history researcher and a lawyer in as many diverse things as nuclear sciences, myth as well as history - and even timelines, it becomes clear that the story is merely intended a vehicle for the speculative theories that the author intended to communicate.

I do not have much of an interest in speculative theories about myths. Thus, for me, it is a grave disappointment to read such a book when I was looking forward to reading a decent fantasy/thriller. After a gripping start the book degenerates into a series of lectures with just enough action thrown in every now and then to get the book to a close.

Ashwin Sanghi, however, is a pleasant surprise in the English he uses since his usage of Hinglish is sparing and restricted mostly to the dialogues of his characters. If he had intended to write a workable novel with all these theories in place, he should have opted for a longer size for the book and paid more attention to his characters.

All in all, it may be an interesting book if you like speculative theories about the myths of the past and you  do not read the book expecting it to be a great thriller or fantasy.

18 comments:

  1. exactly my feelings when i read the book....though 'the chanakya's chant' was on the same lines, it made more interesting reading...

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  2. As someone who enjoyed Dan Brown's breakthrough book, well at least in parts anyway, I don't know why I have been so steadfastly uninterested in Sanghi's. This doesn't do much to change that disinterest!
    Nice, rational review.

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    1. To weave in speculative theories and historical knowledge seamlessly into a good story is a tough art, In this book at least, Sanghi has not succeeded in blending it well.

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  3. I loved the book. With a little knowledge of all those mythologies, it was beautiful to see Ashwin weave through them a story that he claimed to be thriller. It was at times, but I was more interested in those new dimensions that he gave to them and truly enjoyed it. The only thing that displease me was the end, it was so unwanted and abrupt.

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  4. Well, Diwa, it all depends on what you were looking for in the book

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  5. As usual a review that calls a spade a spade.

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    1. Ashwin has put in enough effort on his research - wish he had spent as much time on his story as well :)

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  6. Excellent review. The book surely tried to captivate the reader with endless lectures on mythology, coupled with pseudo-scienctific beliefs; many of which were from unviable sources.
    The golden rule for writing fantasies is that your personal concepts,that which are backed by manipulated theories as a premise may lead to criticism.

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    1. Thanks Merlin! Fiction can center around unsupported theories but there needs to be more story than theory, which Sanghi has failed to provide in this book.

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  7. Excellent review. The writer,unlike his previous work lectured us throughout the book on a few concepts on mythology and science-fiction which were most efficiently manipulated to support many of his concocted beliefs.

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    1. I haven't read his previous work but this one leaned heavily on theorizing to the exclusion of a story.

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  8. Suresh I read the book after I had read your review (sorry I didnt comment back then) I partially agree with you.
    Also I quoted your review s a part of my review, hope you dont mind.

    You can check it here - http://somethings-sugandha.blogspot.com/2013/09/The-Krishnas-key.html

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  9. I had never read Sanghi till I came across Private India and frankly I was not impressed. I agree that his language is much better than what we come across nowadays and his research in the book I read was noteworthy but overall the thrill in reading a thriller was missing.

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    1. This one did not even seem like much of a story to me - it was mainly research.

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  10. My point exactly! Why not simply write fantasy and call it that? Sheer laziness, I think. Why bother to create a universe, characters with emotional depth, when you can simply use an existing set up?

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    1. Ah! My point is that there is no real need to find science in myth :)

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